Plum Wine substitute

Best substitute

Mirin plus lemon juice

1 cup mirin plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Best for teriyaki-style glazes

Close match

The closest pantry substitute is mirin plus lemon juice, using 1 cup of mirin with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, because mirin supplies the sweetness and the lemon supplies the tartness that mirin completely lacks. Cream sherry or sweet Madeira works at 1:1 with a squeeze of lemon, and for desserts and glazes, port or a sweet Riesling is very close. What plum wine contributes is a three-part package: sugar, fruit acid, and a distinctive sour-plum and almond aroma. This is exactly why swapping in mirin alone goes wrong. Mirin is sweet with essentially no acidity, so a glaze made with it tastes cloying and one-note where the plum wine version tasted bright.

Other plum wine substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Cream sherry or sweet Madeira, plus lemon
Different taste
Use the same amount plus 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice per cup
Sweet, fortified and slightly nutty, which lands surprisingly near umeshu's sweet-with-a-stone-fruit-edge profile.
What changes
Best for
glazes, pan sauces, braised pork, duck, poached fruit, desserts
Because these are fortified to around 18 to 20 percent, they are stronger than plum wine's 10 to 15 percent and taste more oxidised and caramelised. A pork glaze made with cream sherry reads richer and more roasted, less fresh and fruity. Cut the amount by a quarter if the recipe uses a lot.
3Sweet Riesling, Moscato or other sweet white wine
Different texture
Use the same amount plus a teaspoon of sugar or honey per cup if the recipe leans sweet
A sweet white has both the sugar and the natural grape acidity, which is a better structural match than most people expect.
What changes
Best for
desserts, poached and roasted fruit, fish and chicken sauces, sorbets, marinades
Plum wine is considerably sweeter and thicker than most sweet whites, so a syrup or granita made with wine alone will taste thinner and less clingy. Adding a spoon of honey fixes the body as well as the sweetness.
4Port or sweet red wine
Different taste
Use the same amount
Best where colour and depth are welcome rather than a problem, such as dark glazes and fruit desserts.
What changes
Best for
dark glazes, duck and pork, poached plums and pears, reductions, chocolate desserts
Port will stain the dish red-purple and brings dried-fruit and spice notes instead of tart green plum, so a marinade made with it tastes deeper and jammier. It also has more tannin, which gives a reduction a slightly drying grip that umeshu never has.
5Plum or apricot jam thinned with water and vinegar (no alcohol)
Different texture
Use 2 tablespoons jam plus 2 tablespoons water plus 1 teaspoon rice vinegar for every quarter cup of plum wine
The alcohol-free version, and the one that gets closest to the actual fruit flavour rather than just the sweetness.
What changes
Best for
alcohol-free cooking, glazes, dipping sauces, marinades, stir-fry sauces
Warm it briefly and whisk smooth so the jam does not sit in lumps, and strain if it has large pieces of fruit. It is thicker than plum wine, so it will make a glaze cling faster and possibly scorch sooner. Umeboshi paste, thinned and sweetened, is another route if you want the genuine sour-plum tang, but use it sparingly because it is very salty.
6Dry sake or Shaoxing wine plus sugar
Different taste
1 cup wine plus 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar, plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice
A build-it-yourself option using bottles a Japanese or Chinese kitchen already keeps.
What changes
Best for
marinades, braises, sauces, savoury dishes
Sake gives a cleaner, more neutral result; Shaoxing pushes the dish nuttier, more savoury and browner in colour. Neither has the fruit character, so this is the option for savoury cooking rather than desserts, where the missing plum note would be obvious.

What is Plum Wine?

Plum Wine is not really a wine but a sweet liqueur, known in Japan as umeshu, made by steeping hard unripe ume fruit with sugar in shochu or sake, which gives a syrupy drink that is sweet, sharply tart and faintly of almond all at once.

Cooking tips

Plum wine and mirin are not interchangeable by default, and this is the mistake worth avoiding: both are sweet, but only plum wine is sour. Any time you swap mirin in, add lemon juice or rice vinegar or the dish will taste dull and syrupy.
Chinese plum sauce and Japanese umeboshi are also not plum wine. Plum sauce is a thick sweet-sour condiment with vinegar, ginger and chilli, and umeboshi are intensely salty pickled plums. Neither is a straight swap, though a thinned spoonful of either can be part of an alcohol-free workaround.
Because plum wine carries a lot of sugar, a reduction will thicken and then catch on the pan quickly. Reduce over medium heat and keep it moving, and stop while it still coats the back of a spoon rather than clinging like caramel.
In desserts, plum wine's acidity is doing structural work: it keeps a poaching syrup or granita from tasting flabby. If you substitute something less tart, taste the cold mixture and add lemon juice a teaspoon at a time, because cold food reads less sour than hot food.
A bottle of plum wine keeps for months in the fridge once opened, since the sugar and alcohol both preserve it, so a bottle bought for one recipe is not wasted.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the plum wine out?

In a marinade with plenty of other seasoning, yes, though the dish will be less bright and less sweet. Replace the volume with water or stock plus half a teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of lemon juice per tablespoon of plum wine. In a dessert or a glaze where plum wine is the main flavour, leaving it out changes the dish rather than weakening it, so pick a substitute instead.

Is plum wine the same as umeshu?

In practice, yes. Umeshu is the Japanese original, made with ume fruit, and it is what most bottles labelled plum wine in Western shops actually are. Korean maesilju is the same idea. Some cheap plum wines are grape wine flavoured with plum, which are sweeter and less tart, so taste before you commit.

Is plum wine actually wine?

Not technically. It is an infusion, made by steeping fruit and sugar in a neutral spirit or sake rather than by fermenting fruit juice, which is why it is sweeter and often stronger than table wine at about 10 to 15 percent alcohol. That matters for cooking mainly because it means a lot of sugar arrives with it.

Can I use white wine instead of plum wine?

A dry white wine on its own will taste too sharp and not sweet enough. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar or honey and a splash of lemon juice per cup and it becomes usable, though it will lack the fruit aroma. A sweet white wine is a much better starting point.

What is the best substitute for plum wine in a glaze?

Mirin with lemon juice, because it glazes beautifully and you can control the sweetness. Watch the heat, since both mirin and plum wine carry enough sugar to burn if the pan runs hot, and brush glazes on in the last few minutes of cooking rather than at the start.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Plum Wine substitute

Other plum wine substitutes

2Cream sherry or sweet Madeira, plus lemon

3Sweet Riesling, Moscato or other sweet white wine

4Port or sweet red wine

5Plum or apricot jam thinned with water and vinegar (no alcohol)

6Dry sake or Shaoxing wine plus sugar